Airplane



De;n 13, 1932.

H. H. YOUNG AIRPLANE Filed Jan. 50. 1.931

5 Shouts- Shut 1 De'c.vl3, 1932. ||i H. YouNG AIRPLANE Filed Jau. so, 1931 3 .Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Dec. 13, 1932 PATENT oFFicE HUGH H. YOUNG, OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND .amrnANn Application filed January 30, 1931. Serial No. 512,430.

The present invention relates primarily to that class 4of airships commonly lmown as seaplanes or hydroplanes, and the primary object of the invention generally is the pro-y vision of novel and improved means for rendering such an airship stable and laterally stead when water-borne.

It 1s further among the objects of this invention to provide novel and improved means m for minimizing any possible tendency of the airship to tip over onto vits side when taking `oi or landing on water or land.

According to the'instant invention, provision is made to effectively minimize or obviate rolling action of the seaplane when resting on the water and also any possible tendency to tip when making a landing, without involving the' use of the commonly-employed fixed pontoons, which constitute a hindrance 2 to the ship in flight because of their dead weight and resistance to air. l

To this end, portions (intermediate or tip) of thewngs of the seaplane areformed to constitute pontoons which are hingedly attached to the main body of the wings.

Means is provided for the raising and lowerign of these wing-portion pontoons., and for securely holding them in either position. In their raised position, they offer no resistance 3 to flight comparable to that offered by ordinary pontoons, because they form, in effect, part of the wing structure. In smooth water, these pontoons are suspended from the wings above and adjacent to the surface of the water. Under .a lateral rolling of the seaplane, such as would occur in rough water and as a result of which serious damage might result to the moored plane, the pontoons are alternately brought into contact with the water and tend to dampen the rollingmotion of the vessel and to reduce it to a minimum.

To minimize a possible tipping of the plane when 'making a landing on the ground, the haingedly attached pontoons may preferably be provided with tire-rimmed ground-engaging wheels, adapted upon slight tipping of the ship to alternately come into contact d pellers 3, and the usual navigating means 4.

with the ground, and stabilize the vessel.

The foregoing and other objects, which `5 will be apparent to those skilled in the art to which the present' invention pertains from a perusal ofthe detailed description below, are attained by the embodiments of the invention hereinafter disclosed, consisting of the construction andnovel combination and arrangement of parts fully described below illustrated. in the accompanying sheets of drawings and pointed out in the claim hereunto appended.

In the drawings,

Fig. 1 represents 'a front elevational view of one form of airship with the present invention applied thereto; the pontoons being shown in lowered position in dotted lines;

y Fig. 2 represents a side view of the airship 65 shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 represents a front view of another form of airship with the present invention applied thereto; v

i `ig. 4 represents-a shown inFig. v3;

Fig. 5 represents a view of an intermediate portion of the underside of one of the wings of the plane shown in Fig. 3;

Fig. 6 represents a side view of a portionV 75 of a Wing having a pontoon tip, a portion of the wing lcovering being omitted to illustrate the details of the pontoon raising-and-lowering means;

Fig. 7 represents a top plan view of Fig. 6; 80

' Fig. 8 represents a view similar to Fig. 6, showing an intermediate portion of the Wing utilized as the pontoon, the latter being shown in dotted lines in its raised position; and

Fig. 9 represents atop plan view of Fig. 8. 85

Similar reference numerals indicate similar or corresponding parts throughout ther several views.

Referring now to the accompanying drawings, and more especially to Fig. l thereof, reference numeral l indicates the combined hull and fuselage of a conventional modern type of biplane amphibian, to which the present invention is adapted to be applied. The g5 said airship comprises also thev engines 2 suitably mounted upon the hull, lthe -proside view of the plane I It will ofcourse be understood that these several features of construction are merely 10o .incidental to the present invention, and may -therefore be varied at will.

Extending laterally from each side ofthe fuselage 1, and secured thereto in the usual manner, are the upper wings 5 and the lower wings 6. As the construction of each lower wing 6 is substantially the same, a description of one will suffice for both.

Each lower wing 6 comprises a conventional truss structure 7, of which only the rear spar and front spar are diagrammatically illustrated in the drawings (Figs. 6 and 8) This entire truss structure is preferably enclosed in a suitable covering or skin..

Each lower wing 6 is formed at its outer end with a separate wing tip portion 8 which is hingedly connected to the main body of the wing, as by hinges 9. These o utermost portions 8 yare formed of water-tight construcftion, and may preferably be made of riveted proper 6. When the vessel is water-borne, the

wing tip pontoons 8 are caused, by means of a suitable mechanism hereinafter described, to assume the vertical position illustrated in dotted lines in Figs. 1 and 2. In this latter position, they are adapted to effectively overn come and obviate any excessive tendency of the seaplane to roll laterally because of turbulent waters, and the ship is thus substantially stabilized. V

Means is provided for simultaneously effecting the raising and lowering of the several wing tip portions 8. This means preferably comprises, for eachwing pontoon, a pair of spaced bearings 11 and 12, which may be conveniently supported on one of the spars within the wing structure. Journaled in the said bearings 11 and 12 is the interiorly threaded-shaft 13 which has a beveled gear 14 'mounted on one end thereof.

Beveled gear 15, mounted upon rotatable shaft 16, meshes with the gear 14 of each wing-pontoon operating means, so that they may move simultaneously upon manual rotation of the shaft 16 by means of the handwheel control 17 thereon. It is obvious, of course, that suitable automatic means may be substituted for the hand-operated means. This means, whether manual or automatic, is so situated as to be conveniently accessible to the pilot, and rotation thereof effects rotation of the threaded shaft 13 in each wing 6.

Mounted for movement reciprocally of the interiorly-threaded shaft 13 upon rotation of the latter is the eXteriorly-threaded member 18, from which there extends a stainless steel operating tube or rod 19. Hingedly connected to the outer end of the rod 19 is one end of a lever 20, the other end of which is suitably and securely connected to the wing tip pontoon 8, 'as shown.

A lug 21 extends laterally from each lever 20 into guiding engagement with guides 22 mounted upon the spar member and acts to effectively limit the downward movement of the pontoons by the abutting of the lug 21 with ends or stops of the guides 22.

rlhus asimple but efficient means is provided for simultaneously raising or lowering the wing tip pontoons from the remote c'ontrol in the cockpit of the airship.

It is preferred to form the outermost edges of the wing tip portions 8 of the lcontour shown in the drawings to enhance their ef fectiveness as pontoons, especially when the shilp is moving through the water.

o enable the airplane to land on the ground, it is preferably provided with the specially-journaled single center wheel 23, which, if desired, may be made retractable while the plane is in Hight. Each of the wing tip portions may also preferably be provided with a suitably journaled wheel, as shown .at 24, care being taken to preserve the imperforate character of the covering of the pontoons 8. Means 23 and 24 constitute my novel and improved landing gear.

Upon landing on the ground, landing is made on the single center wheel 23, the plane being kept level by the usual Vcontrols until its speed has diminished. In the meantime, the portions 8 are lowered (as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1) so that tipping of the plane, as it slows down, is prevented by one or the other of the wheels 24C` coming intoy contact with the ground. The ground line is diagrammatically shown at 25 in Fig. 2, and the water line diagrammatically at 26.

In Fig. 3, the invention is shown as applied to a mono lane. In this form, an intermediate portion 8 of the wing 6 is hingedly movable withy respect to the body of the wing. The ortion 8 is functionally and constructiona ly similar to the pontoon 8 of the previously-described modification. lt is obvious,

ofcourse, that wing tip pontoon may be used on the monoplane instead of the intermediate pontoons, and that intermediate pontoons may'be used on the biplane instead of wing tip pontoons. l Means to raise and lower the pontoons 8 is shown in Figs. 8 and 9, and this means is substantially lidentical in structure and function with the corresponding means in the previously-described modication. The pontoons 8, however, are preferably hinged by suitable lhinging means at the side thereof away from the cockpit instead of at the side nearest the cockpit, as in Figs. 6 and 7.

It is to be understood that the invention is susceptible of numerous slight changes within the scope of the appended claim. For example, in any of the modifications, the pontoons may be used with or without the wheels 24, or the center wheel may or may not be used in combination `with the wheels 24. Similarly, the several wheels may be provided with suitable shock absorbers. Also, the several pontoons may be so arranged as to be individually and alternately, instead of simultaneously, raised and lowered. The disclosed modifications are merely exemplary or preferred embodiments of the present invention.

I claim:

Landing gear for airplanes of the character described including, 1 in combination, a single center wheel, and combination stabilizing pontoons and balancer wheel'sdependin from the wing extremities of the plane an normally disposed above the-level ofsai center wheel, said combinations stabilizin means being ada ted to function as part of tA e` wing when in ying position, said pontoons being watertight in character, and said balancer wheels eing journaled in and extendig from the pontoons, means for moving said combination stabilizing means, and means extending from said stabilizing means and coactin with said wing extremities for guidinV-an I limiting the movement of the stab' izing means with respect to the plane, said guiding and limiting means comprising a lever con-- nected to said stabilizing means, guides on said wing, and lug means on said leveradapted to abut with` thev ends of said guides.

HUGH H.- YOUNG. 

